


but this is my home (and you are all my family)

by anony_mouse



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, Grief, Immortality, No Beta, im sorry, written pre-a single pale rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 03:16:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11912067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anony_mouse/pseuds/anony_mouse
Summary: They miss their little boy.





	but this is my home (and you are all my family)

After years of fighting with the Crystal Gems, maybe Steven gets a little too slow in one fight, or maybe he just gets old and dies, because slow aging isn’t immortal. It doesn’t really matter how, what matters is that Steven’s time on Earth ends and, to everyone’s shock, he poofs.

The Crystal Gems are all understandably upset and confused.

  


It takes… years. Decades. The gems are beginning to wonder if his gem is just… dead. Without life force or energy. After all, who knows what a human lifespan could do to a gem. Steven was made of love, and now, even Garnet’s future vision can’t see his future.

But then, one day, the quartz begins to glow. Everyone rushes to come look, excited and nervous and happy.

Except, when the light fades, it’s not Steven.

There stands Rose Quartz, in all her beauty, entirely unchanged from the moment she left them. 

And nobody knows what to think.

At first, there is shock. Silence.

Then, there is yelling and rejoicing and a tearful reunion- it’s been nearly a century, after all.

But then Rose asks what happened. Where was Greg? Everyone was so different. Had there been a battle with one of the corrupted gems? Who were the new gems standing here with them? And everyone stops.

She remembers nothing. Her decision to become Steven. The videos she’d made with Greg. Her final moments as herself. And she has none of Steven’s memories either. They figure she's missing about six human years before becoming Steven.

Then there’s the grief. Those who only ever knew Steven succumb first. They knew that it was possible- likely, even- that he was gone forever, but somehow, this seems… worse. Some of them remember Rose rather unkindly, and now, it’s as if she’s taken one more thing away from them.

The original three aren’t sure how to feel. They’re obviously overjoyed to see their old friend, but. Things have changed. They’ve learned secrets they’d never known and they know now that Rose isn’t the perfect gem they’d grieved for all those years ago. She misses Greg dearly, but it is the grief of an expected blow- she’d always known that she would outlive her human lover. Her grief isn’t as raw as Steven’s was. As theirs is after all their shared years with him of sorrow and laughter and adventure. They still love Rose, but…

They miss their little boy.

More time passes. Months, years, decades. It’s harder to keep track when they no longer live amongst humans every day. 

Slowly, the Crystal Gems have learned how to handle grief, but then Amethyst will find MC Bear in her piles and spend a few days out at the Kindergarten.

Pearl will hear an echo in the Ancient Sky Arena and race in, remembering Stevonnie’s numerous training sessions only to find it heart-shatteringly empty.

Garnet will find the digital picture frame Steven had gotten her and will lose a few hours looking to the past instead of the future.

  


In some ways, the other fare better, having lacked Steven in their every day lives. In others, they fare worse, lacking the others’ solace in the return of an old friend.

Rose, for her part, can do little to truly comfort anyone. She has no memories to share with them, her very presence wa reminder of everything they can never have again. In their grief, they now turn not towards her, but each other. 

She wonders, sometimes, if she should try again. A new human, a new child, a new life. But Garnet finds her before the idea is even half formed in her mind and shuts her down decisively.

They’re all so much stronger now. More independent of her. Much better at telling her no.

She watches Steven’s- her son’s- videos, playful documentations of his life and his hobbies addressed to humans who are all long gone, and grieves for the child she’ll never know.

But they all have stories to tell her too. As time heals the cracks in their hearts, they tell Rose about their boy- theirs now as much as he was hers, if not more. She laughs and cries and gasps in wonder in all the right places, branding each story into her mind and her heart. She memorizes every note of every song they remember (they remember them all). Sometimes, the newer Crystal Gems will even pitch in, each with their own tale of how her little boy changed their lives.

For all their longevity, they’re all more aware of human time than they once were. Everything may be different now, without a human in the Temple, but once every Earth year, the Crystal Gems will gather. They’ll sing a few songs and trade a few stories. They’ll make a cake which most of them will never eat and load it with candles that no one will blow out. 

And amongst the conversation and laughter and the occasional tears, they’ll remember Steven Universe together.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry. This was just a thing that ate my brain for a while and then I posted it on tumblr forever ago. And then recently I refound it and realized that I hated it, but I'm also super proud of it cuz apparently I can make myself cry a little.
> 
> So.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~(Also, Im not in love with the title rn so if someone has a better idea, Ill listen)~~


End file.
